AFL great unloads over Jordan De Goey and Collingwood contract clauses

An AFL great has unloaded on social media after a star shunned a lucrative contract offer due to selective clauses thrown in by the club.

Jordan De Goey of the Magpies. Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

Collingwood star Jordan De Goey has been backed for slamming the door on Collingwood’s five-year deal.

The Magpies star’s contract circus took an extraordinary twist on Monday with reports he has rejected the club’s $4 million offer.

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Reports revealed De Goey has rejected the offer because it includes behavioural clauses that would allow the club to cut the deal after two seasons if the footballer fails undisclosed behavioural demands.

Midway through the season, De Goey caused a storm when he was seen partying in Bali during the bye-week break.

De Goey’s response also raised eyebrows, initially slamming the “relentless pursuit and persecution of athletes by the media” and linked his ADHD diagnosis to the Bali incident.

Soon after he released a stage-managed video apologising for the incident through the Magpies social media.

Both the Pies and De Goey both were furious about the incident reportedly but the 26-year-old was a revelation as the Pies went all the way to the preliminary final, losing a one-point thriller to the Swans.

The Pies had previously withdrawn a four-year deal after the Bali incident but had put a five-year deal worth $800,000 in front of De Goey.

But the midfielder has reportedly rejected the contract due to behavioural clauses in the deal.

The deal would mean that after two seasons, the Pies could walk away from De Goey because of behaviour problems but he reportedly wants more clarity as to what would trigger a breach.

De Goey got back in the good books. Photo by Mark Kolbe/AFL Photos/via Getty Images.

He is said to have hit out at the clauses for being “too broad and arbitrary”.

The report stated “a club source said the Magpies had not given up of re-signing De Goey and remained hopeful that a deal could be reached”.

Journalist Sam Edmund spilt more on what’s listed in the contract when he spoke on AFL Trade Radio on Tuesday.

“The catch all clause in the contract for Jordan De Goey read along the lines of Collingwood being able to stand down Jordan De Goey and terminate his contract whenever they think necessary,” Edmund said.

“That is the ultimate catch all.

“He doesn’t have to sign that of course, he can go and sign somewhere else. Clearly there’s a preference to stay at Collingwood.

“I think Collingwood will, if they haven’t already, give some ground here when it comes to the specific behavioural clauses of this Jordan De Goey contract.

The AFL Players’ Association has already come out in support of De Goey’s decision not to sign the new deal, stating it “does not support additional behavioural clauses imposed on players beyond what’s already in place through the standard playing contract”.

The AFLPA said attempts to add extra clauses to player contracts “undermines the integrity of this process and creates inconsistency”.

De Goey has been backed by former North Melbourne great David King who condemned the Pies for inserting the clauses into the contract and said if they don’t trust him, they shouldn’t sign him.

No way Jordan De Goey should sign that contract. It should never be permissible by the AFLPA, regardless of history. Don’t trust him, don’t sign him.

— David King (@davidking34) September 27, 2022

Fox Footy AFL 360 co-host Mark Robinson on Monday night slammed De Goey for holding out when the club has stood by him.

“Well, bad luck (Jordan) – Collingwood stand your ground,” he said.

“You know Jordan, you got your hand back no doubt, you played magnificent football. But you’ve got a history and the club has said: ‘We will pay you a lot of money but we want you to behave’ – and you’re saying you want specifics about my behaviour? No common sense!

“We’re not going make a list of if you do that you’re OK, if you do that no you’re out.

“Common sense behaviour! You’re a man! Take the deal.

Jordan De Goey of the Magpies. Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

“If you don’t want the deal, you don’t want to make the changes – goodbye! You are just a footballer, that’s all you are.

“You’re a good footballer but you are not bigger than the club.”

The Herald Sun’s Jon Ralph told Fox Footy’s On The Couch the development is a “little bomb” in the ongoing drama.

Robinson said Collingwood should consider a backflip to keep ruckman Brodie Grundy, who is reportedly being shopped to the Demons in a salary cap dump that would see the Magpies pay some of his wages.

“I hope (De Goey) stays, but if he’s digging in saying: ‘I don’t know about my behaviour’, Collingwood and (club president) Jeff Browne should say: ‘OK thanks a lot, we’ll keep Brodie Grundy’,” Robinson said.

“One of them has got to go – if his 800 (thousand per year) goes, then Grundy can stay. So this is a really big decision by Collingwood. Do they buckle to De Goey after what’s happened? Wow.”

De Goey was fined $10,000 by the AFL in March for his involvement in a late-night incident in New York last year.

He has a long list of other offences as well, including road offences such as speeding while driving a sports car as a P-plater, driving while suspended and using a handheld device, drink-driving on his P-plates, and lying to Collingwood after breaking his hand in a bar fight.

Originally published as AFL great unloads over Jordan De Goey and Collingwood contract clauses